﻿Research: William Cecil Hunter

My great uncle William Cecil Hunter, who was most commonly known as Cec, was born on 14th June 1930 at Paull Lakes Farm in Paull, East Yorkshire. The farm was a small holding where his maternal grandparents George and Emma House lived. Cec was the oldest of 4 children; William Cecil (1930-1977), Harold (1933-2016), George Henry and Janet. Their parents were William and Dorothy Annie May Hunter (nee House). Cec was baptised on 13th July 1930 at Paull Church.

The first photograph below shows Cec as a baby, and the second shows Cec being held by his uncle Ronnie (Ronald Hunter) and his other uncle Harold Hunter.

William Cecil Hunter

William Cecil Hunter (baby) and two of his uncles

From a young age, Cec was a part of the military. He was in the Cadets and he played a large drum, which is shown on the left of the photograph below. Cec is in the centre of the second row from the front, just behind the man in glasses.

He was called up for the army as part of a national service scheme. On the last of his national service, Cec hit the serjeant because of the way he was treating him and the other recruits. He was sent to the glass house for bad behaviour and had to stay there for an extra week. If he hadn’t had done that, he would have been going home!

Cec was part of the Kings Royal Lancers Regiment, which is commonly nicknamed the Iron Fists. It was a tank regiment. David, the oldest son of Cec told me that he was stationed in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. The photograph below shows Cec with the Royal Lancers cap badge. He is on the back row, third from the right.

Cec was also part of the local football team; Hedon United and he also played for the Marfleet team at some point. The Hedon team used to play on the old Brickyard field, which is now twyers park. The photograph below is of the Hedon team in about 1947/48. Cec can be seen on the back row, third from the left. He appears to be the goalkeeper. He would have been about 17 years old here.

On 22nd December 1951, William Cecil Hunter married Gladys Osborne in Marfleet, Hull. The photo below shows their wedding day. Cec’s brother, Harold, is on the left of the photo and the father of Gladys, George Osborne, is on the right. The wedding was a joint wedding with Gladys’ brother George and his bride Rose.

The couple went on to have 5 children; David Cecil, Ian George, Linda, Annie and Debra.

Cec first lived down George Street in Hedon. He then lived 16 Hales Cresent. After Hales Cresent, he lived on Westlands Road. He was either the second or third owner of the house. They were built in the 1950s. My grandmother (Cec’s sister) now lives there.

My grandmother’s cousin Doug, told me that when he was younger, Cec and younger brother Harold would make a make-shift boxing ring out of leaves on the ground of George Street in Hedon. They would both hold Doug’s head and tell him to try and fight them. Doug would keep trying to fight them and would get a few hits back, in order to toughen him up!

Cec was a very well known character in Hedon. He ran a boxing club called St. Augustine’s Boys, with Bob Parker. It was located in a building down Magdalen Gate in Hedon. The building can be seen on the right of the photograph below, but it has now been demolished. Cec would also play a lot of darts and would often organise trips to the seaside such as Bridlington for everyone in Hedon.

Cec worked for Yorkshire Hennebique Contracting, which was down Bank Side in Hull. He became the depot manager but the company went bust, which resulted in Cec being made redundant. This was the first time that he had been unemployed.

There’s one story about my great-uncle Cec that I think is very funny. Cec was in the Queen’s Head pub in Hedon one time with his wife and probably a lot of friends and other family members. I believe something happened including his wife, Gladys, which resulted in Cec throwing a man through the pub’s window, into the main street of Hedon. Cec and his brothers were known for being able to look after themselves if they needed to. I believe the person must have taken Cec’s laid-back and funny nature as a weakness. What a mistake that was!

Later in his life, he started up a transport company with an old school friend called Ken Barlow. Cec also did some work for another good friend, Sam Allon.

Cec sadly and suddenly passed away on 16th November 1977 when he was working on Queen Elizabeth Dock on Hedon Road, Hull. He had just strapped the goods, he had just received, onto the back of his waggon. He had got into the cab and turned the ignition on, but then suddenly had a heart attack. Someone knocked on Cec’s waggon to tell him that he was able to set off. When he didn’t respond or drive forward, someone went to check on him and found him, leant over the steering wheel. According to the doctors, he would have not felt a thing as it happened so suddenly. He was buried in Hedon Town Cemetery.

I have heard many many stories about my great uncle Cec and his unmatched sense of humour, kindness and generosity. He was known and loved by many people in around the local area. It is such a shame that I never was able to meet him, as I am sure I would have gotten on with him a lot.